Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, January 17, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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pogonip
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| Article of the Day | |
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 Rubik's Cube: The World's Best-Selling ToyInvented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor Erno Rubik, the Rubik's Cube is now said to be the world's best-selling toy. More than 300 million of these colorful, square puzzles have been sold worldwide. The standard Rubik's Cube has 54 square faces—nine on each side—covered by stickers in six solid colors. When the puzzle is solved, each side of the cube is a single solid color. What is the current world record for solving a Rubik's Cube? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 US Supreme Court Declares Home VCRs Legal (1984)After Sony introduced the Betamax home video tape recorder in the mid-1970s, Universal Studios sued, alleging that Betamax facilitated copyright infringement by allowing users to make copies of television programs. After an eight-year legal battle, the US Supreme Court ruled that using the new technology to "time-shift" one's television viewing constituted fair use. By then, Betamax had been eclipsed by the VHS format. What later case concerned the "space-shifting" of media? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Benjamin Franklin (1706)Regarded as one of the most extraordinary public servants in American history, Franklin was also a printer, publisher, author, scientist, and inventor. After gaining popularity as the publisher of Poor Richard's Almanack, he promoted public services in Philadelphia, including a library and a fire department. In 1776, he went to France to seek aid for the American Revolution, and in 1787 he was instrumental in the adoption of the US Constitution. What musical instrument did he invent? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 It is a delicious thing to write, to be no longer yourself but to move in an entire universe of your own creating. Today, for instance, as man and woman, both lover and mistress, I rode in a forest on an autumn afternoon under the yellow leaves, and I was also the horses, the leaves, the wind, the words my people uttered, even the red sun that made them almost close their love-drowned eyes.Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Feast of St. Anthony the Abbot (2021)St. Anthony the Abbot was one of the earliest saints, and, if St. Athanasius's biography of him is correct, Anthony lived more than 100 years (251–356). He eventually came to be regarded as a healer of animals as well as of people. His feast day is celebrated in Mexico and other parts of Latin America by bringing household pets and livestock into the churchyard, where the local priest blesses them with holy water. All the animals are carefully groomed and often decorated with ribbons and fresh flowers. In some Latin American cities, the Blessing of the Animals takes place on a different day—often on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. More... | |